NFL had begun considering alternatives to Arizona for Super Bowl XLIX

The NFL wasn’t saying much publicly about its plans for Super Bowl XLIX, if controversial Senate Bill 1026 hadn’t been vetoed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.

Privately, the league was beginning the process of moving the game out of Glendale.

Don Banks of SI.com reported before Brewer killed the bill that the league began investigating the steps necessary to relocate the next Super Bowl. Per Banks, Tampa likely would have been the first option.

“It’s a big undertaking and one the league would very much like to avoid,” an unnamed source close to the situation told Banks. “It’d be incredibly logistically challenging to pull it off and no one’s even sure if it’s possible. Some expert would have to make a decision on that at some point, but the game’s going to be played somewhere next year.”

The NFL pulled the Super Bowl from Arizona 24 years ago when the state declined to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. But the decision in 1990 to pull the plug on a game set to be played in 1993 gave the league much more time to make other plans. (Arizona ultimately voted to recognize the holiday in 1992, and the NFL ultimately gave Super Bowl XXX, played in 1996, to Arizona.)

The discussion became moot once Jan Brewer applied her John Hancock to the veto form. But the experience serves as a reminder that, like the Miss America pageant, the first runner-up in the Super Bowl sweepstakes could eventually be wearing the crown.

I live in Arizona. The people are a mix of pretty much every other state in the country. Great people. Disgusting politics though. Look no farther than that blowhard Joe Arpiao. Terror suspects get treated better than the people that have to go through that hell hole of a jail he has.

weepingjebus says:Feb 27, 2014 9:37 AM

I knew it was only a matter of time before the league would be dragged down by all the same political garbage infecting everything else. Can’t we just watch some football? Nope, progressives love America so much they have to change everything about it.

Tampa is a much better choice than Arizona. I mean they are both loaded with old people, and both states seem a touch insane, but Tampa has some of the best strip clubs in the world, and many more of them.

Interesting the NFL has such a problem with the Arizona bill, yet they have no Rooney rule forcing teams to interview Gays, Women, etc from being interviewed for jobs in the NFL. They also discriminate against males who want to be cheerleaders. When was the last time you saw a male cheerleader on the sidelines.

Big talk from an organization that doesn’t pay taxes……like most of the companies in Arizona.

kmartin173 says:Feb 27, 2014 9:55 AM

Either they want the game in Arizona or they don’t. If the NFL is going to cave to the PC police then this country is well on the way to becoming France.

cuda1234 says:Feb 27, 2014 9:56 AM

So the NFL is “open-minded” and “tolerant” as long as everyone does exactly what they say? Nice.

cuda1234 says:Feb 27, 2014 9:57 AM

I wonder when the NFL will realize the complete lack of “diversity” in its “workplace”. Or when the union will be offended by it.

There is only one openly gay player in the entire NFL, there can’t be much more in NFL front offices and I know of only two high ranking women. Such a rule would be a bigger joke than the Rooney rule. The same 1-3 people being passed around by the teams with a vacancy.

Also, I believe the Ravens have male cheerleaders. Not sure if there are others.

osiris33 says:Feb 27, 2014 10:09 AM

weepingjebus says:

I knew it was only a matter of time before the league would be dragged down by all the same political garbage infecting everything else. Can’t we just watch some football? Nope, progressives love America so much they have to change everything about it.
—————————————–
Change everything about it? They want to destroy everything about it. Look at the economy.

The game would never have been moved. It’s way too late. All the hotels in Tampa have already booked something else. It was just the NFL trying to accommodate the politically correct fascists by beating the drums. The law never said anything about gays, either. That was just a media distortion.

just because brewer vetoed the bill doesn’t excuse or delete the fact that arizona is a backward, punitive, prejudiced state that should not be “paid” and rewarded for not passing a bill they really wanted to pass, by being allowed to host a super bowl!

PacificNWMark says:Feb 27, 2014 1:34 PM

Glad to see Governor Brewer do the right thing here.

True conservatives oppose unnecessary laws (smaller government) and as the governor noted, there were no instances of religious liberty being threatened in Arizona that would justify this legislation.